


First Aid

by ForgoneMoose



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Sorry Not Sorry, chat goes to shit, yet another chat fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-06-24 13:53:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19725007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForgoneMoose/pseuds/ForgoneMoose
Summary: baddragon22: ive done it again. shitBB: ?baddragon22: the thing with the doorWeiss Schnee: What thing with the door?SapphireTulip: yaaang!!!!!!!!BB: Again, Yang? Come onWeiss Schnee: What thing with the door?To alleviate the boredom on yet another solo patrol mission, Ruby creates a group chat for RWBY to keep herself entertained. This was perhaps a mistake.





	First Aid

Ruby slammed down onto the ground, pointy end of her scythe burying a ways into the dirt beneath her feet as she did. Impaled on the weapon was the last remaining member of a pack of Beowolves - or, emphasis on was in this case, Ruby having dealt it an utterly brutal beatdown.

The Beowolf's corpse melted away into black ash on the wandering wind as Ruby sighed in relief. She hadn't been expecting such an arduous battle when she went on this patrol, and as such ended up woefully under-prepared and with no backup to speak of. Her life had been in real danger, there.

_For the first time, since-_

Ruby was interrupted in her thoughts by a vibration from the Scroll in her skirt pocket. 

After the last time missions had seen the four of them separated, Ruby suggested that team RWBY maintain a group chat, so as to keep one another informed as to each other's doings even when apart. Okay, it was created almost entirely because Ruby got lonely that one time she had to sit in remedial courses Valean history while Weiss and Yang got to go on patrol together, but that's beside the point.

_baddragon22: ive done it again. shit_  
_BB: ?_  
_baddragon22: the thing with the door_  
_Weiss Schnee: What thing with the door?_  
_SapphireTulip: yaaang!!!!!!!!_  
_BB: Again, Yang? Come on_  
_Weiss Schnee: What thing with the door?_

Ruby decided to leave explaining that to Weiss to Blake. She was getting distracted; there was still work to be done out here, and she wasn't certain that there were no more threats about. She put away her Scroll and continued her patrol.

Ruby had signed up for a solo patrol of Forever Fall earlier that week. Each student at Beacon needed a certain number of hours of active field duty on their record, in a variety of situations, in order to be recognized as having completed a year of schooling. Patrols of this sort weren't usually this demanding, usually seeing students patrol relatively remote areas not too far outside of civilization for only a day or two, tops.  


  


* * *

  
The fading glimmer of twilight washed over the scarlet-soaked trees which coalesced to form a canopy overhead. Brittle amber leaves snapped into pieces, loudly crunching beneath Ruby's feet as she walked. If she remembered right, she wasn't too far away from Vale's commercial district; that an entire pack of Beowolves had gotten so close to the city was a bit disconcerting, though certainly not unheard of. It didn't really matter anyways, since she had been there to combat any threat they might have posed regardless.

Ruby did her best to ignore the now-rapid buzzing in her pocket as the terrain in front of her began to slope upwards more sharply. It is well known that the mountainous geography surrounding Vale made a very effective barrier against the Grimm, but apparently it was a very effective barrier against Rubys as well. Her path had turned almost vertical now, and she fell backwards into the dirt as her out-of-practice climbing skills failed her.

Growing frustrated, Ruby got into a crouch, bracing herself for a rapid burst of speed. She used her Semblance to rocket forwards, shooting all the way up the hill and then some. A calm evening breeze blew through her as she hung in the air for a moment, then fell back down to the ground.

Ruby landed on one knee, bracing as she felt her Aura absorb the shock of the landing. Before she could even get back on her feet, she felt another vibration from her pocket. Annoyed, she reached to disable vibrations on her Scroll, but couldn't resist seeing what sort of drama Weiss had likely unleashed upon the chat.

_Weiss Schnee: All I'm saying is that the acts that you two perform in that bed on a nightly basis are utterly disgusting and I'd rather not see, hear, or smell anything about it!_  
_baddragon22: cmon dont be like that bae_  
_BB: You knew about that Weiss?_  
_Weiss Schnee: Anybody would be able to figure it out because it is just so DISGUSTING._  
_baddragon22: e coli isnt even a risk if you just eat right! dont knock it till u try it, princess :)_  
_SapphireTulip: UM_  
_SapphireTulip: GUYS??????????_  
_baddragon22: great now youve poisoned a young childs mind weiss_

Ruby put her Scroll out of her sight, not sure what to make of that conversation. She felt a headache coming on, and that combined with the exhaustion compelled her to just get going already. She'd deal with whatever that was tomorrow.

The scarlet hues of the trees surrounding her fading away as she walked, Ruby stopped in her tracks as she felt a flare across her Aura, almost too quick to catch. Ruby had trained this sensation well, as had all huntsmen in the making; nobody was quite sure as to why, but it signaled that some sort of danger was nearby. A useful mechanism for all those that would pay attention to it.

Ruby extended Crescent Rose, stepping into a clearing that seemed miraculously free of the numerous leaves that littered the ground all throughout the rest of the forest. Smack dab in the center were three bodies, arranged neatly into a stack. Ruby grew uncomfortable at the sight, unable to get used to seeing civilian death despite it being a simple reality of being a huntress. It was terrible, but these things just happened sometimes.

Whatever Grimm had done this didn't seem to be here anymore. Ruby scanned the perimeter of the clearing and found no signs of life whatsoever. Grimm generally lacked subtlety, being quite easy to see and hear coming even for the untrained - they instead relied on their great strength and numbers to overwhelm humanity in spite of this weakness. 

Satisfied, she examined the corpse pile. Taking inventory of the dead, as was standard huntsman procedure for such situations, she took note of the appearances of the bodies as well as whatever wounds they might have. All of their wounds appeared to be from blunt force trauma, their bodies literally black and blue from bruising and fractures. The pile was a twisted mess of limbs pointing in unnatural directions. Ruby struggled to think of a Grimm that attacked in this manner, but she reasoned that she wasn't exactly the best huntress to ask that sort of question.

Two were human women, wearing what seemed to be fairly ornate evening wear. One was fairly short brunette, somewhere around Ruby's height, and was wearing a plain blue dress that reached down past her knees, as well as a pair of earrings adorned with decorative jewels of some sort. The other was a fairly tall redhead - under six feet probably, but not too far off. She wore a more lavish looking red dress that shone in the faint daylight.

The third person, a man, seemed to be a huntsman. He seemed unprepared for combat, wearing a button-up shirt and slacks with no armor of any sort that Ruby could see. He gripped in one hand what looked like a baton with a chamber for Dust vials to be inserted. Seeing a huntsman fallen in the line of duty like this filled Ruby wi-

_BB: Have you guys ever licked someone's intestines before?_  
_baddragon22: lmao kinky babe_  
_Weiss Schnee: I beg your pardon?_  
_BB: You know, like, when you've got a girl's intestines out on the bed._  
_BB: Have you ever just bent down and tasted them?_  
_baddragon22: honestly blake u caught me red handed lol_  
_Weiss Schnee: I must admit, it does sound kind of... exciting._  
_baddragon22: would b happy 2 help u try it out :p_

The screen of Ruby's Scroll was overtaken by... whatever this conversation is. She had absolutely no idea how to respond, so she didn't. She'd finished outlining her report for Professor Ozpin, so she simply put her Scroll away. The heat in her forehead she had felt before had now grown into a dull ache throughout her entire head. 

Ruby really wanted the day to end already.  
  


* * *

  
Ruby reached the border of the forest, at last. Dead and empty trees gave way to an open jungle of asphalt marking the outer limits of the city of Vale, and civilization with it. Businesses were prohibited from building on land that was too close to the edge of the forest for safety reasons, so she had a bit of a long trek ahead of her yet.

The orange and purple hues painted across the evening sky finally gave way to night as Ruby made her way down barren roads into the city. A dazzling sea of lights flickered on in a wave, illuminating the entire city in the distance. Ruby faintly hummed the tune of a song that her sister used to sing her to help her get to sleep when she was a child, trying to lighten her own mood as she ambled towards the shuttle station.

Ruby perked up a bit as she was awash with the smell of something burning. Continuing to step forward, she noticed undertones of what seemed like copper as well, though she wasn't entirely sure. At the very least, it reminded her of the smell of fried electronics she had grown accustomed to back when she was first building Crescent Rose.

Finally, the road Ruby headed down flowed into a street surrounded on both sides by various small shops. The only one that she recognized out of them was Tukson's Book Trade, a local book store that she'd insisted on going with Blake to once when she was trying to get to know her better. It was quite dull, as book stores are wont to be.

It took Ruby a moment to notice, but she realized that she was uncomfortably alone out here. Sure, most of the more glamorous locales in the city were more towards the center, but seeing no signs of anybody out and about on a Friday night in the nation's capital was just bizarre. Looking a little closer, Ruby noticed that all of the little hole-in-the-wall stores around here were closed.

Was today some sort of holiday or something?

Ruby continued down the street, heading again towards that odd smell she had noticed. There were a few cars parked here and there, yet no sign of their owners anywhere in the vicinity. She had free reign over the sidewalk, as well.

Having made her way to the end of the street, she made a left at the four way intersection, leading straight towards the shuttle station near the heart of the commercial district. Shuttles ran 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and students of Beacon were expected to make use of them to get to and from the campus whenever possible to save on the great Dust consumption of transportation by Bullhead. It was kind of a pain, but Professor Ozpin had assured her that it was for the best when she had filed a formal complaint with his office (read: burst into the headmaster's office shouting).

Making her way down the street, a dead streetlight flickered on, revealing a... person? They stood stock still in the flickering silver light, seeming to be hunched quite a ways over.

A bad feeling that Ruby couldn't quite explain filled her heart as she reached out, about to ask if this person needed help. She listened to her gut, choosing to keep quiet instead. She turned to walk away and find a different way to the station, but stopped in her tracks as she heard that damned buzzing come from her pocket, now seeming extraordinarily loud and obnoxious.

Ruby thrust her hand into her pocket and stopped the vibrations, but it seemed she was too slow on the draw. The person in front of her flinched, before slowly standing up straight. Up and up she went, her upper body seeming to unfurl into the night sky. The person in front of Ruby must have stood close to eight feet tall, with a body that tapered upwards into almost a dull point of sorts at the head. She scooted around to face Ruby directly.

Two bony arms extended from her waist down to the ground, bending in three places as they did. They were taking over duty for what seemed to be the remains of her legs, which looked like they had been violently removed, stumps oozing what looked like some sort of yellow oil. Her upper arms were hideously broken, gangrenous and bent into absurd angles, looking as though they could snap off with a particularly harsh touch.

Her blank expression snapped into a grin that reached up past her eyeballs, which seemed to be looking more above Ruby than directly at her. She silently opened her mouth, revealing a set of dozens of immaculate teeth set several inches into her mouth. Ruby could only stand there stunned as she began to speak, in a voice not unlike that of a mother addressing her baby.

" **HHH** ello. **CCC** an you help me? **HHH** urt, leg hurt, hurt. **HHH** elp?"

It's speech came out in a slur, the creature gradually advancing towards Ruby as it spoke. Ruby reached for Crescent Rose, but it had been moving faster than she'd anticipated. The creature was already in her face, latching onto her upper arms with its strange, bony limbs.

The creature fell over onto its stomach, having lost the little support it had for keeping upright. Nonetheless, its grip on Ruby remained tight.

" **HHH** elp? **HHH** elp? **HHH** elp?"

The creature chanted as Ruby shut her eyes and gritted her teeth, trying not to scream from the pain of its hold. The clamping force crushing her bones threatened to outpace her Aura, and the exposed, jagged bone of its hands lacerated her skin. She struggled, flailing her legs around wildly, but this only seemed to aggravate the creature.

It slammed her down into the sidewalk a couple of times, bones audibly breaking in Ruby's spine before rapidly being healed.

" **HHH** elp, me? **HHH** elp me please? **PPP** lease?"

Overcome by adrenaline, Ruby realized that she had no plan as to how to get out of this situation. Was this how she was going to die? Alone, unable to fight back even as a trained huntress? The thought disgusted her.

But, as quickly as the nightmare had started, the creature threw her forcefully into the wall of a nearby pawn shop, letting her free. The smell from before was much stronger now, nearly causing Ruby to gag.

" **CCC** eremony. **CCC** ome with, me? **CCC** ome."

It turned around and shambled down the sidewalk, the way that Ruby had been intending to go in the first place.

Ruby stayed sitting against the wall, struggling to catch her breath and absorb what just happened to her. Feeling the residual ache in her back start to die down, she checked her scroll to see if her friends had any idea what was going on here. Maybe that notification from before was related?

_baddragon22: have any of u guys met a Manipulator b4? just wondering haha_  
_Weiss Schnee: Yes. Is that unusual or something?_  
_BB: Yeah. He was a fairly nice guy I think_  
_Weiss Schnee: I mean, why wouldn't you trust one?_  
_Weiss Schnee: Is there something wrong with Manipulators?_  
_baddragon22: i was just kinda worried if giving him my one of my eyes was a bad move i guess?_  
_BB: I think you're fine Yang_  
_Weiss Schnee: I agree._  
_SapphireTulip: whats a manipulator_  
_SapphireTulip: guys help_

As Ruby typed that into the chat, she heard a faint ringing noise from all around her. She was suddenly overcome by a sharp pain that coursed through her head and down into the rest of her body. Cradling her forehead with both hands, she curled into a ball and whimpered as the pain circulated through her for what felt like minutes.

It never went away entirely, but it eventually became dull enough to bear, at least long enough for Ruby to get to safety. Opening her eyes, she saw a streak of blood on her left hand. Had she been wounded back in Forever Fall and not realized it? That creature didn't do anything to her that could have drawn this much blood. Why wasn't her Aura healing it?

All Ruby knew was that she needed to get out of there, now.  
  


* * *

  
Ruby crossed the street, and began sprinting her hardest to avoid running into whatever that thing that had attacked her earlier was again. A ways down, she did indeed see it on the other side of the street. It had turned its head to look at her before she had even noticed it; its face was still contorted into that same strange grin it had taken on before. Ruby greatly outpaced it, thankfully, but its head turned to keep its eyes on her as she passed, unblinking.

Ruby stumbled blindly through a maze of damaged buildings and overturned cars, taking turns at random, now fully on autopilot. That smell came back stronger than ever, and this time Ruby had to cover her nose and mouth with her hand to protect herself from it.

In the distance, she saw a glowing light. It came from a large fire of some sort placed in the center of what she was pretty sure was a park. Slowing down to assess the situation, she noticed there were a number of people gathered around the fire, or at least clustered near it. They stood there, immobile, and it appeared they were all facing the fire instead of the oncoming intruder, thankfully. Ruby had no interest in meeting these people.

_"people"_

Ruby instead turned into an alley that she wasn't familiar with, willing to take the risk of being boxed into an enclosed space to get away from them. Down it led, a gaping maw into the darkness, away from the waning comfort of the street lights that dotted the city.

A bit of claustrophobia set in, as the alleyway seemed to taper off more and more as she continued walking in. Now barely wide enough for her to walk down without having to turn on her side, there was a sharp turn to the right. 

Then there was another. Then another. Then another.

Ruby had wandered into a jumbled maze of brick and mortar, going every which way at the whims of the non-euclidean architecture. She eventually came to a dead end, before realizing that the way forward was an outcropping in the wall to her left. She had to climb up her own height in order to reach it. And yet, the passage kept on going.

After an amount of time that Ruby couldn't even begin to quantify had passed of Ruby groping around trapped in this dark maze, she felt yet another vibration from her pocket. It brought her back to reality for a moment; she wanted to talk to Weiss. She wanted to talk to Blake. She wanted her sister to stroke her hair and tell her everything was going to be okay, like she always did whenever she was scared.

_baddragon22: ruby dont go that way!!!_  
_BB: Don't go that way_  
_Weiss Schnee: Don't go that way._  
_SapphireTulip: please stop_  
_baddragon22: please don't got hat way_  
_BB: It isn't safe to go that way_  
_Weiss Schnee: Don't go that way. It's not safe._  
_SapphireTulip: help_

Ruby realized that her teammates weren't going to be of much help right now. Where were they? What were they doing? Do they know what's going on out here? Why weren't they answering her? So much wasn't clear.

Ignoring their warnings, Ruby continued walking straight ahead, the only path available to her at this point. The alley finally widened back up, opening into a sort of large square that had no other entrances or exits besides the path Ruby came from. There was a streetlight in the corner providing limited illumination, but she was still very much in the maze, judging by the appearance of the place.

Ruby's boots squelched on the ground as she stepped through a coating of blood. A layer of dry, black blood was supplanted by a growing puddle of red, that seemed to be gushing forth from a source that Ruby couldn't identify.

Spread out near the back were three more bodies. Ruby shut her eyes and whimpered, before accepting that it was her duty as a huntress to take account of these people even in a situation like this - especially in a situation like this. She took her Scroll back out, and began to document the three women that were sprawled out on the ground.

One was a short woman with sheer white hair, and a matching white minidress and jacket combo. She looked to be a huntress, clutching an ornate rapier in her mangled left hand. Glancing her over, her torso seemed to have been completely crushed somehow. Her limbs were stretched far past their sockets, looking horribly strained and elongated. Her eyes were partially dissolved in her skull.

The next was a taller woman with long, black hair. She seemed to be a Faunus, possessing animal ears pressed flush against her head. She wore a white undershirt and pair of shorts beneath a jet black vest and set of stockings. Near her body were a sword and pistol attached by a cable of some sort. Very similar injuries to the first girl.

The final one was a similarly tall, blonde woman. She wore a short brown jacket underneath an orange bandanna, and a pair of black shorts. Her badly mangled and twisted arms were adorned by a pair of golden gauntlets, broken in twain. Again, similar injuries to the other two.

Ruby finished writing her notes down, sighing. If three huntresses couldn't do anything about whatever was doing all of this, there was no way that she alone could do much of anything to help the situation. She had to run away - far away from the city. 

Before doing anything else, though, she needed to get back to Beacon. She needed to meet back up with Weiss, Blake, and Yang, and make sure they were okay before deciding to do anything rash. She really needed friends to talk to right now.

Ruby was interrupted in her thoughts by the beeping of a car horn. The shuttle she had been waiting for was idling in the tunnel, waiting expectantly for Ruby to get on already. Desperate to get back as soon as possible, she walked up to it and climbed up the stairs inside. No driver, or other passengers, awaited her.

Taking a seat next to nobody, Ruby felt her consciousness waning. Struggling to stay awake, she pulled out her Scroll, trying to make sense of the group chat once again.

_Weiss Schnee: Exactly. In three cases of four sing dancer pole sharp hard blade._  
_baddragon22: lol u understanding instrument_  
_BB: Grapes. Double back exhibition. True darkness fear pulling_  
_SapphireTulip: guys? im on my way there_  
  


* * *

  
The jumbled streets of the city of Vale slowly crawled past the shuttle as Ruby looked out, propped against the window. 

Those things were everywhere now, as the shuttle passed through the heart of the commercial district. They feasted on the corpses of the few huntsmen that had been there to make paltry attempts to fight back, in so much as these things could be "fought." They were not an enemy to overcome, like the Grimm that Ruby had fought so many times in the past, but a force of nature, more akin to a hurricane or earthquake.

They ate. They consumed everything around them - the ground, the walls, streetlights, trash cans, small animals. When there was nothing more to eat, they were all too happy to turn to eating one another. They turned and smiled at the shuttle as it coasted past, one looking up from eating the lower body of another that had already lost all of its limbs to the insatiable hunger.

They grew upwards and outwards like weeds, only using the facsimile of a human body as a sort of guideline, if that. Necks turned and turned, limbs grew longer than their entire bodies, bones jutted out of dead skin. Some were nine feet tall, others were blobs of about three feet in height. Nothing mattered.

They brought death with them wherever they went, and so too did the smell of death follow, never far behind. That smell, and the corresponding sights and sounds Ruby had experienced that night, burned themselves into her memory, likely for the rest of her life. They all seemed quite happy to see Ruby as she passed on by, but looking at them filled her with a sense of sadness, of longing for a friend that she hadn't seen in years. This sadness even overpowered the fear.

After making multiple turns, the shuttle jarringly dipped, and Ruby screamed as the vehicle tipped forward and fell into a deep, black chasm.  
  


* * *

  
Ruby awoke, startled, in front of a fountain near her dormitory at Beacon. She got to her feet, but was assaulted by dizziness and nausea. She felt more sick than she ever had in her life; she could hardly think straight, let alone walk a straight line. Nevertheless, she couldn't give up, not when she was so close now.

Ruby limped forwards, pausing to lean against the side of the dorm as she approached. Gathering her energy, she pushed the building's side door open with her shoulder.

Inside was a piercing darkness, broken only by the faint light of the moon penetrating through a window on each floor. Ruby made her way to the end of the hall, having to crawl up the stairs to her floor. She needed Yang. She needed somebody.

Having finally finished her climb, she walked out into the hallway, leaning on the walls as she went, frequently having to stop and rest for a moment. Standing outside the closed doors of each room were various other huntsmen who lived on the floor, saying nothing as she passed by, staring her down as she went. Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren watched her stumble about, stoic as they seemed to judge her in silence.

After an eternity, Ruby reached her door. Not even thinking to open the lock first, she twisted the doorknob; fortunately, the door came right open regardless. Ruby figured that maybe one of the others was inside waiting for her, but this unfortunately turned out not to be the case.

The room was immaculate, just as she had left it the other day before the patrol. Even though it was late, she was the only one of her team here. There was so much she needed to do, so much she needed to ask, but she felt so sick, and terrible, and tired, that she didn't think she could do much of anything right now. Some sleep would probably help, then she'd go find her friends first thing in the morning.

Glancing in the mirror as she passed by it on the way to her bed, Ruby saw three of those things sitting on three broken beds, next to the door that was busted open off its hinges. The room sat in disarray, items scattered everywhere and broken beyond repair as wind howled in from the shattered windows. Through all of this, those creatures only sat there and smiled into the mirror, having found some happiness that transcended humanity.

Looking back, Ruby saw the room exactly as it had been when she first entered, everything in order. Satisfied, and too tired to do anything about it even if something was wrong here, she collapsed onto her bed, angling herself so as not to get blood from her head wound on her pillow. Weiss, Blake, and Yang would all be here when she woke up - she was certain.


End file.
